Monopoly Ultimate Banking goes cashless to oust the family cheat

If you’ve never come close to murdering members of your own family over a friendly game of Monopoly, you’re probably doing it wrong.

We don’t think we’ve ever played a game where someone didn’t have a hidden stash of cash, tried to swipe a C-Note while no-one is looking or bargained for their lives, prolonging the agony for way longer than necessary.

Now a new version of the game is seeking to settle those dangerously vociferous arguments once and for all by doing away with paper money altogether and bringing the game into a digital age.

The Monopoly Ultimate Banking edition (via Gizmodo) gives players credit cards and requires them to scan that card using the bundled in scanner every time they wish to make a purchase.

All cards in the game, including Chance, now have unique barcodes, so if you’re lucky enough to win £10 in a beauty contest a quick scan of the card will deposit the sum in your bank account.

Then, once an opposing player lands on your property, they’ll be required to scan that card and you’ll be the recipient of an instant bank transfer, rather than experience the joy of ripping the cash from their grasp.

Thanks to the digitalisation of rent and purchase fees, the game is able to be a little more flexible. New Chance cards called Life Events, which can have reverberations around the board and even cause rent prices to fluctuate.

Of course, it’s not the first time Monopoly has tried to do away with regular money. There are electronic editions with chip and pin like card machines, but Ultimate Banking offers the most techy version yet for the annual holiday-ruining board game.

The Monopoly Ultimate Banking edition is coming out in the autumn and will be priced at $25 (around £18)